The iconic house on the Island at Towan Beach in Newquay is undergoing a refurbishment. 

The owners are carrying out the improvements to make the building, which is more than 100-years-old, more environmentally friendly.  The house is due to be fitted out with better insulation and solar panels will be installed on the flat roof. 

The work will also include a loft conversion to create an upstairs view from the Island out to sea and to reduce noise from the beach at night into the upstairs bedroom.  The red roof will remain where it is at the same height. 

The work is due to be completed by the summer season next year. The house is rented out to guests as a holiday let when the owners are not staying on the Island themselves. 

A spokesperson said: “Newquay residents and visitors may wonder why it is covered in scaffolding and whether there is going to be some enormous, hideous new development. There is no need for alarm. 

“The main aim is to make the house more environmentally friendly.  The house is over 100 years old, and is exposed on all four sides to the coastal weather, so it currently takes a lot of energy to heat it, far more than an average three-bedroom house.  

“All services to the house have to come over the bridge, which rules out gas heating, so all heating and power is by electricity.  

“The redevelopment will make the house better insulated, which will reduce the energy needed to power it, and will install solar panels, which will further reduce the energy needed to be drawn from the national grid. 

“Secondary purposes of the renovation are to create an upstairs view from the Island out to sea and to reduce noise from the beach at night into the upstairs bedroom. 

“The owners are conscious of the iconic status of the Island and are sensitive to wishes to preserve familiar views of the Island. No new storey is being added.  

“The red roof will remain where it is at the same height. The solar panels will be on the flat roof, not on the red sloping roof. The views of the Island from the town will be largely unaffected.  

“There will be new windows facing towards the harbour which do not project or change the roof shape. The main difference will be on the side facing out to sea, where a loft conversion will create a room facing towards the sea.  

“This room will be nestled in between the two existing pointed roofs, mirroring what was done many years ago on the side facing the town. To accommodate solar panels, the roof valley on the sea-side is being filled in. 

“Once completed, the views of the Island and the house from the town will be mostly unchanged. The iconic red roof will remain.  

“Although the weather is more challenging for the building work over the winter, this timetable aims to minimise disruption to other residents and visitors when Newquay is busiest during the summer. 

Newquay Town Council commented on the redevelopment: “We welcome the proposed works and praise[d] the sympathetic handling of this unique dwelling, which is considered to be an iconic part of Newquay’s townscape.” 

The owners have already shown they are sensitive to preserving the heritage of their much-loved home. In 2019 they undertook a significant restoration of the bridge to the Island. Those works won an international engineering award in the category “Structural Heritage”. 

The judges said that they recognised the sensitive nature of the bridge restoration which respected the original design of the bridge.